Cavaliers vs Rockets: Open Thread
December 9, 2009On Carlos Santana’s Surgery, Adam Miller’s Career
December 10, 2009While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
Economy, based on LeBron James: “The downturn in the economy has had wide-ranging effects on the NBA; fewer players on guaranteed contracts, fewer coaches, scouts and especially fewer paying fans. But the Cavaliers have been somewhat insulated, judging by Forbes Magazine’s annual look at the business of the NBA. The publication, which estimates the value of franchises based on numerous factors from revenue to its market, ranks the Cavs as the league’s fifth most valuable franchise for a second consecutive season at $476 million. It was down $1 million from last season, when the Cavs were fifth at $477 million, but it bucked a leaguewide trend that saw franchise values drop four percent to average of $376 million.” [Brian Windhorst]
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Sporting News’ hoops blog The Baseline sits down with Anthony Parker. [The Baseline]
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Ndamunate! “Suh was the single most dominant player in the country (allegedly the qualifier for the award), per eye test (as demonstrated above) and defensive metrics alike. The House of Spears finished with 82 total tackles and 12 sacks to his name for his efforts in 2009. His performance in the Big XII Championship (a barbarian-like 12-tackle, 4.5-sack domination of the hapless Texas interior line) was an emphatic stamp on a season of excellence, arguably the most dominant from a defensive lineman in modern football history.” [Eleven Warriors]
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Right now there are seven teams in salary-cap range to make a run at James. Among them, the Clippers offer the most attractive supporting cast to a guy who is probably pretty intent on winning a championship. He can stay in Cleveland and make more money than anywhere else, but how much would they have to pay you to live in Cleveland? [TJ Simers/LA Times]
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The Browns might not be a winner on the field, but they made strides toward becoming more successful off it – and maybe on it as well down the road – with the hiring of high-profile Fred Nance on Tuesday as their general counsel. […]
Landing him is a real coup as the struggling Browns try to fortify their front office, looking to bring in a president to run their football operation, and probably also a general manager to procure talent. If the team is to get out of the dire straits it’s in – they’re just 1-11 with a seven-game losing streak as they prepare to host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night on national TV – then it has to find accomplished, credible people for those positions. Having Nance on board should help considerably with that selection process. [Steve King/The OBR]
32 Comments
comments like “He can stay in Cleveland and make more money than anywhere else, but how much would they have to pay you to live in Cleveland?” are the ones that show a writer has little imagination and creativity.
When your owner is own of the main people responsible for the country’s economic downturn and profited off of it in turn, you tend to be insulated.
I meant one, not own.
I usually think you should try and trade out of the top 3 picks in the draft unless there is a clear cut dominant player. It looks like Suh is that guy. What a beast.
Do you know if anyone has quantified LeBron’s value to the Cavs? If he left what would the value of the franchise be then?
I think that we should start a campaign to bombard hacks like TJ Simers, and anyone else who writes garbage like that, with emails demanding an apology to Cleveland after LeBron re-signs. t.j.simers@latimes.com
I’ve already sent mine.
Victory over Steelers = No Suh for Browns
Puck Fittsburgh–I don’t care if it does cost us the number one pick
simers is not a national media guy, he’s a local newspaper writer in l.a… what do you expect? i can understand being upset if this was marioti or rome, but its not… its their version of pluto or windy. no harm, no foul
If Lebron left, Gilbert should consider trading the Q for the $580,000 Superdome.
Re: Staying in Cleveland – If it’s true that Lebron knows basketball history and culture as well as anyone, why would he make the mistake that Baron Davis and many others have made, and tie his future to the Clippers?
And why does everyone who talks about the misery of living in Cleveland forget that Lebron CHOSE to build his huge-ass estate in Ohio? Do they think he’s planning to unload it, and start again in LA or NY or Barcelona, or wherever ESPN thinks he’s going today?
Kelly Dwyer from Ball Don’t Lie linked to another random local non-sports writer who tried to make the case for lebron to play in houston next year. i think the basic arguments were the same “we have banners! cleveland sucks! we have money too! houston is warm! texas executes more people than ohio!” etc etc.
also, i thought about how lebron would look on the rockets, and other than the fact that he’d probably play backup center, that would be an insanely good team.
i will quickly remove that thought from my head.
Silence, Amin.
TJ Simers–wow, very original article–Bill Simmons has been talking about that scenario for 2 years on his site…I sent TJ my thoughts.
i realize simers isnt a national guy but rather a local LA writer. regardless, making comments like “how much would they have to pay you to live in Cleveland?” – at least to me – causes a loss of credibility. those are fourth grade level sophomoric comments that any professional journalist who is trying to be credible should shy away from. its not me being thin-skinned. in fact, if you read his whole article he makes a similar crack on OKC and Minneapolis too. thats nothing more than lazy writing. when was the last time you saw windhorst or pluto make a comment that patently insults an entire group of people based on a broad generalization?
Not only did LeBron build his giant mansion in Ohio, he built it in BATH OHIO! I mean, come on, who’s going to buy his 20,000 sq ft house in Bath Ohio? That’s his for life! He’s going to have to will that thing to someone to get rid of it.
very true tim. i guess all i was saying was that its not on the same level as a bill simmons, marioti, etc… therefore not worth one’s time to actually send an email. i would say that since they ARE so sophomoric in their writing that at least we won’t have to ever read them on a national level, but obviously that’s not the case as it seems the more idiotic and childish a sports writer is, the more likely they will get promoted to the ranks of an espn
bill simmons – to his credit – as far as i know, has never resorted to “why would anyone ever want to live in cleveland?” as an argument. sure he has said things like “LA/NYC/Miami is great,” but at face value to be young, single and very very wealthy in a place like miami WOULD be fun. ill be the first to admit it. that doesnt mean places like cleveland, okc, minneapolis are awful places like simers, marritti and others like to say. simmons at least sticks to facts (for the most part)
just sent my missive to TJ as well. Idiot. Thanks for the email link clevexaminer
@ Mendy – True he’s a local, but he’s still feeding the flames at our expense. I guess I reached my breaking point after hearing it from so many national and local outlets, and decided to let this “journalist” hear about it. I mean the Clippers, really?
did anyone else get a response from TJ? Mine was terse and disappointingly predictable. I actually quoted William Blake in my email to him (“to generalize is to be an idiot”), and then he sent back another generalization about Cleveland. Thanks for walking into the trap, sir.
humboldt – copy and paste!
ME: Please. Please. Stop the banalities about Cleveland being an undesirable city. When you criticize us you are just being the latest idiot to spout off old tired cliches. Have you been to Cleveland? Have you explored it in any real depth? As William Blake said, “To generalize is to be an idiot”, and you have certainly generalized sir. An apology would be nice, but in the absence of that just stop with the generalizations. Please.
best,
SIMERS: place is a dump—been there many times.
Seems like a swell guy. I’ve been to to LA before and I feared for my life. Given the choice between the two I’d take Cleveland any day.
haha wow humboldt. ok, i retract everything i said. he’s beyond an idiot.
ha ha – what an a-hole
WFNY –
Please do me a favor and don’t link any more TJ Simers articles. I live in Southern California and am subjected to him everyday. This article is exactly the same as every article he writes or everything he says when on local radio. He is a first class a– clown.
Also, to those emailing him. Don’t. He writes that crap to get a rise out of people and because he isn’t insightful or bright enough to write quality articles. He is everything that is wrong about the way sports are covered in the media.
I know the majority of people here are sold on Suh as our top pick, but I’m not convinced yet, and I’ll tell you why. I understand he’s been a beast all year in college playing on the D-Line, but so was a gy back in ’05. The #1 overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft, Mario Williams. (The same draft that saw us land Wimbley & D’Qwell!) He’s had a decent career thus far, but he’s no impact player. Now granted, that draft class is’t one for the record books (R. Bush, V. Young, A.J. Hawk) but it did yield some impct players after the #1 (A. Cromartie, L. Washington,B. Marsall) This is what concerns me about Suh. He’d be a fantastic addition to our D-Line, but if in fact we do get the #1 pick, I think we need to shore up our secondary with the best CB or S in the draft. Just my 2 cents.
I’d much rather have Berry. He is said to be a DB/S hybrid and the Browns could use the versatility. Teaming him in the secondary with perennial, All-Universe, Abram Elam is also an exciting thought.
@ Scott – probably not your intent, but I would’ve gone with ‘Boy named Suh’ to complete the Johnny Cash reference.
RIght now, teams like the Grizzlies, T’Wolves, Clippers, Knicks, Nets….they don’t to get into a trade with the Cavs for a good player, and take Z or Shaq’s contract. THey all hope to have a shot at Lebron, and don’t want to contribute to making him happy.
Lebron needs to up and sign with the Cavs if he intends to stay to put all of this to rest so we can unload Z and Shaq and get some real players in here.
I am going to be honest… I covet Ndamukong Suh. Defensive tackle might not be the biggest area of need for the Browns, but for a player this disruptive, this intelligent, and this special you just have to take him regardless of who you have. If you put him next to Sean Rogers, that’s an unstoppable force going through the middle of the opposing team’s offense. 7-step drops will be a sack every time. I want Suh for the Browns, and I want him bad… he’s the kind of player who covers up the inadequacies of other players.
@Jay let me also add that I have seen Suh play in two games (against Texas and against Virginia Tech), and those offensive line units are nothing to scoff at. Suh looked like a man among boys. He swatted 4 of Tyrod Taylor’s passes. He sacked Colt McCoy 4.5 times. He was ALWAYS in the backfield and ALWAYS near the play, even if he didn’t make it. This is not another Mario Williams where you like his athleticism and numbers so you draft him number 1. Williams racked up his stats against weak opponents. Suh racked up his stats mostly against the good teams (but was still impressive against the lesser teams as well). He led his team in tackles from the defensive tackle position. I mean, dang.